Wuppertal City Hall
The Stadthalle Wuppertal (official name: Historische Stadthalle am Johannisberg ) is one of the most important sights of the city and at the same time known worldwide as a concert and event location because of its unique acoustics . It is located on the Johannisberg in the south of Elberfeld, not far from the city center and the Wuppertal main train station . The swimming opera and the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium are in the immediate vicinity .
It was built at the end of the 19th century as a representative building for the then independent Elberfeld, opened in 1900 and was the only historical venue in Wuppertal that remained largely undamaged during the Second World War .
use
The historic town hall of Wuppertal is one of the most representative event locations in Wuppertal and, due to its excellent acoustics, is also used for concerts of all kinds and for musical recordings. It is the concert hall of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra . In addition to music events and concerts , the town hall is also used for performances by small artists as well as for exhibitions, smaller trade fairs and other events.
For example, the danceComp , one of the largest international dance sport events, has been held in the halls of the town hall every year since 2004 at the beginning of July . In 2013, over 2,500 dancers applied for the competition, in which a European Cup of professionals in the standard disciplines was held for the first time in 2013. In April and May of 2008, the ratings of the German Orchestra Competition 08 took place in the town hall. The German ESC participant Cascada shot the music video for the competition song Glorious here . At the beginning of June 2013, the nationwide preliminary decision for the second season of the casting show The Voice of China took place in the town hall . Of 223 applicants, 15 appeared in front of 300 spectators. The top three qualified for the next round of the casting show.
The garden of the town hall is also used regularly for commercial events. Since the soccer World Cup in 2006, there has been regular public viewing in the garden at major soccer tournaments , which is converted into an urban beach with bars in the summer months.
The hall is run as a GmbH . The shareholders are the city of Wuppertal, Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal and Culinaria GmbH, which is responsible for catering in the hall .
history
At the end of the 19th century, the then still independent and strongly prospering city of Elberfeld intended to acquire a figurehead in the form of a town hall as a sign of its self-confidence and prosperity. After a suitable plot of land had been acquired on the Johannisberg in 1895 , construction began on October 5, 1896. In a year and a half, a building in the style of the Italian neo-renaissance was built according to the plans of the Elberfeld municipal building office. The opening ceremony took place from July 6th to 8th, 1900.
The large hall covers around 1,000 m², offers seating for around 1,550 people and standing space for around 2,000 people. It was equipped with one of the largest organs in Germany. The orchestra niche is 190 m² and is suitable for the largest orchestras and choirs. According to expert opinions, the magnificent building was and is acoustically one of the best concert halls in Europe, on a par with the Leipzig Gewandhaus , the Wiener Musikverein or the concert halls in Munich and Zurich .
In contrast to the other historic theaters in Wuppertal, which were all destroyed by bombing in 1943, the town hall remained undamaged and was able to serve as an opera and operetta house in the first post-war period. In 1957, during a modernization, stucco was removed and gilded ceilings and wall paintings were painted over. The large organ was initially not restored. The small, mobile organ of that time was not replaced by a large instrument until 1996.
In the period between January 1992 and December 8, 1995, the town hall was completely restored for around 80 million DM (40.9 million euros) and essential historical elements of the original building were restored, including the stucco decorations, wall and wall decorations lost in 1957 Ceiling painting.
On the facade are the names of numerous German-speaking cultural figures who reflect the repertoire canon of the time it was built. During National Socialism , the names of all persons of Jewish origin, for example Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's , and other artists who were not popular with the regime were removed. These names were reapplied after the war. The smaller halls are now named after Mendelssohn, Jacques Offenbach and Gustav Mahler .
building
The town hall is a two-story building with a sandstone facade . Roughly speaking, the floor plan is rectangular, with four prominent towers at the corners. In addition to the large hall, which extends over both floors and has a gallery , there is also the foyer ( the foyer ) and the Offenbach hall on the ground floor . In addition to the gallery of the Great Hall, there are five other smaller halls on the first floor, including the Mendelssohn and Mahler Hall.
organ
.JPG)
A new organ could also be installed through a private donation . The instrument was built in 1996 by the organ building company Westfälischer Orgelbau S. Sauer (Höxter). It has 67 registers (4706 pipes ) on three manuals and a pedal. The swellable remote control can be played from the second manual. The solo work can be linked to all manuals. The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically. The pedal register subset 64 'is an acoustic register that is generated from the drone 32'.
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literature
- Heinz Theodor Jüchter: The historic town hall of Wuppertal . Ed .: Holger Kruppe, Herbert Heck. 1st edition. Sutton Verlag , Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86680-404-3 .
- Joachim Dorfmüller: Wuppertaler Musikgeschichte , Born Verlag, Wuppertal 1995 ISBN 3-87093-074-8
- Central sheet of the building administration XVI. 1896, No. 3 = p. 21–28 p. 27 Miscellaneous - From the award ceremony for a town hall on the Johannisberge in Elberfeld
- Central sheet of the building administration XVI. 1896, No. 6 = p. 53–64 p. 60 Competition for designs for a town hall in Elberfeld
Web links
- Entry in the Wuppertal monument list
- Official website of the town hall
- Entry on baukunst-nrw
Individual evidence
- ↑ New "Cascada" music video plays in the Wuppertal town hall. (with costs if applicable). Westdeutsche Zeitung , February 3, 2013, accessed on January 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Christian Surrey: Casting: From Wuppertal to Chinese television. (with costs if applicable). Westdeutsche Zeitung , June 3, 2013, accessed on January 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Detailed information on the organ
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 11 " N , 7 ° 8 ′ 35" E